decks

I recently taught a Tarot class at my workplace, and the biggest question was “how do I pick my deck?” It’s different for everyone, but here are some guiding principles I came up with on the spot:

Don’t be afraid to just pick up a deck and go, some times impulses can be for a great reason.

What kind of images do you want to see on your deck? I knew when I started I didn’t want to deal with people on my cards, in large part because I didn’t want to deal with gender on my cards. There is a deck for everyone out there, from the twee cat decks, to the abstract and geometric.

Do the research online, check out images and reviews of decks that you like. If you are looking at images or videos of people handling the deck and you can’t connect with the images? That deck isn’t for you.

If the cards you pick deviate from the traditional suites of wands/pentacles/swords/cups, make sure you’re comfortable with the deviations and you understand how that will affect your reading. A lot of deck advice suggests that new tarot users go straight for a traditional Rider-Waite style deck, but if that feels wrong to you, disregard it! Just understand how your deck is different. Make sure you get the guidebook with any decks that are different from your average deck.

Whatever you decide, remember you can always pass on the wrong deck to someone who might find it useful. Or repurpose the deck for art, spells, or teaching. I recently purchased an art nouveau deck and realized I hated it. It wasn’t remotely anything I would feel comfortable with in anything more than very simple readings. So I made it my teaching deck, a deck that I’d be comfortable letting people sort and touch when I’m teaching a program or showing people something about the cards that I think they need to see/touch to understand.

With so many indie decks and alternative approaches to Tarot art to choose from, it’s an exciting time to be a Tarot reader. Here are five Tarot decks Etienne and I have at the top of our wishlist.

The Numinous TarotWe backed the Kickstarter for the Numinous Tarot by Noel Arthur Heimpel and we are so excited for its arrival next year. The art is an intense riot of colors and symbolism, dipping into astrology, sacred geometry, modern imagery, callbacks to more traditional Tarot systems, and of course the creator’s own interpretations. The real crowning point of the Numinous Tarot though is that it is unapologetically, intensely queer, feminist, and intersectional. The people featured throughout the deck are black, brown, fat, old, disabled, queer, polyamorous, and/or gendered in many, many ways.

The Sasuraibito TarotThis lush watercolor deck is infused with Japanese-American spiritual themes as influenced by the West, something that takes direct inspiration from creator Stasia Burrington’s life experiences. Burrington weaves Buddhist, Shinto, and humanist imagery with her own symbolism and artistic eye. There’s a fantastic interview with her over at Little Red Tarot; definitely check it out if you want some insight into designing a Tarot deck.

The Wooden TarotAL Swartz’s art for this deck is honestly right up our alley with its blend of realistic nature illustration with a touch of the surreal. The wood grain background makes the images on each card pop and we can definitely see these cards spread out on our tarot cloth. I’m also excited that this deck doesn’t seem to be a Rider-Waite-Smith clone and is rather heavy on interpreting through symbolism and intuition. Benebell Wen has a thorough review of the deck here.

Prisma Visions TarotArtist James R. Eads really hit it out of the park with this incredible deck. This art is influenced by surrealism and impressionism and especially reminds me of Van Gogh’s work, if Van Gogh instead of using oil paints used one of those scratch art kits. The Major Arcana cards are bordered, but the crowning beauty of this deck is the one continuous image that makes up each suite. I’ve never quite seen anything like Prisma Visions.

The Starry Cauldron TarotThis gorgeous deck was just released this past August and we cannot wait to get our hands on it! Creator Carrie Louise consciously included no guidebook to this lavishly illustrated deck with bold watercolors and cosmic themes. The Starry Cauldron Tarot leaves behind traditional RWS imagery and instead invites the reader to fully rely on intuition. This deck is on Etsy for sale.